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u/out_here_vibing

r/Tubed r/TransportForLondon r/LondonUnderground
Update: new game to play!
▲ 8 r/Tubed

Update: new game to play!

Hello everyone,

I hope you’re all doing well!

I’ve been working on something new that I wanted to share with the Tubed community first before taking it any wider.

I’ve created a new game called Branched.

It’s also based around the TfL network, but it’s more of a visual puzzle and uses your knowledge of the network in a slightly different way. Hopefully it gives you something a bit different to Tubed!

It’s still very much a work in progress, and I’ve found that the best way to improve these games is to get feedback from people who actually enjoy playing them - and where better than here?

Try it out here if you want: https://playbranched.co.uk/

I’d love to hear what you think - particularly if anything is confusing, frustrating, too easy, too difficult, or just bad.

And just to confirm, I’ll still be working on Tubed (because I know it is far from perfect 😅). I’ll share an update shortly on some of the changes I’ve been making there too.

I have absolutely no idea what the end goal of these games is - I’m just enjoying making them at the moment, and I hope you enjoy playing them!

Thanks all,

Doug

u/out_here_vibing — 7 days ago
▲ 4 r/Tubed

Past Puzzle Mode

Hello all,

Just wanted to start a conversation to discuss a mode which allowed you to play previous days. Some sort of calendar for example you could tap the day and play.

With this in mind, there is a slight issue with how the game has been made and changes have been made - past puzzles are not all going to be the same.

Whenever I make changes to timings, routes etc. this reruns the simulation that chooses routes not only forwards but also backwards but since no one could see past games I didn't really pay attention. However, if I was to introduce a calendar mode I would need to keep past games remembered, which is fine.

But it means when I launch this feature, the past puzzles might not match the past puzzles you have played (in most cases it will).

My question therefore: Is this an issue OR is it good to just have more puzzles to play?

What do you think?

Thanks!

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 16 days ago
▲ 8 r/Tubed

Update: Ranking is now live! Compare your result vs everyone else.

Hello everyone,

Just released a new feature which some of you may start seeing today but all will see tomorrow which I am very excited about.

Until now Tubed only ever showed you your own result. From today (like 10 minutes ago), once you solve, the card also shows how you did against everyone else who played that puzzle. If you have already solved today you will not see this but you will see it tomorrow.

What you will see:

  • Top X% today on your result card, plus a defined place if you are in the top 3 in the world.
  • Typical optimal solve, the median time taken by players who found the fastest route so you can get a feel for where you sit.
  • Your percentile gets added to the share text also for direct comparison with friends if you share it (would be great if you do!).
  • See attached picture (I managed to nab first place for now!).

How the ranking works:

Route quality comes first. Matching the optimal route beats being fast, every time. If two players both find the optimal route, the quicker one ranks higher. Still tied? Fewer hints wins. Identical on all three is a genuine tie and you share the position.

A few things to note:

  • No accounts, no sign-up, no usernames. There is nothing to type and nothing stored about you beyond a random ID in your browser.
  • Easy and Hard have separate boards.
  • Nothing appears until at least 5 people have played that day, so early birds may see a blank card at first. Your rank also updates through the day, so it is worth checking back once more people have had a go.

There is also a privacy page now, since scores leave your device for the first time: www.playtubed.co.uk/privacy.html

Bit nervous about this one since it adds a fair amount of extra complexity and notoriously this causes issues, so please flag if you see anything weird with this release so I can have a look and fix it.

I know there are other bugs to fix which I am always working on but this is a fun release so I hope you enjoy.

Thanks!

Doug

Play here: www.playtubed.co.uk

u/out_here_vibing — 20 days ago
▲ 3 r/Tubed

Manor House <> Harringay Green Lanes OSI

Hello everyone,

Received some feedback today around an OSI being missed between Manor House and Harringay Green Lanes.

This is a confusing one because despite the TFL map indicating a walk between these two stations, there is not actually an official OSI as per the official TFL OSI list: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/out-of-station-interchanges

My process for adding OSIs has always been to add the official ones only as this is a more consistent method of managing the network and is supported by TFL.

However, this is an interesting one because it can be seen on the map (as attached) quite clearly.

Interested to hear people's thoughts on whether this should be included on this basis or if there is agreement on my methodology.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks,

Doug

u/out_here_vibing — 22 days ago
▲ 3 r/Tubed

Wait times on Overground Lines

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all doing well.

I saw feedback and received some emails around wait times on the overground being inconsistent. They were essentially all defaulting to 3 mins which is not true for pretty much any line.

I ran an audit and update last night so hopefully these are better now. Please continue to let me know if you spot anything that doesn't look right to you.

Understandably these things cause frustration when completing routes. Apologies for this but I will continue to roll out improvements as quickly as possible.

Thanks!

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 1 month ago
▲ 8 r/Tubed

Long Overdue Update - More puzzle diversity!

Hello everyone, hope you're all still enjoying Tubed when you can.

It's been a while since my last update, so here's what I've been up to.

I've just released a new update that's been in the works for a bit. Juggling it with work and life, so apologies for the slow pace at the moment.

What's new:

  • More puzzle variety, with some tougher ones now popping up (thanks to a big loosening of the rules governing puzzle selection, to keep things interesting)
  • Reviewed OSI timings
  • Fixed bugs that let you beat the optimal route (famous last words)
  • Removed the "BETA" tag from Hard mode which was long overdue

Most of this update is backend changes, but the puzzle variety should be the most noticeable difference day to day.

As ever, thanks for playing. It's genuinely great having this space where people are still showing up and playing the game.

Keep the feedback coming and I'll keep trying to improve it.

Thanks,
Doug

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 2 months ago
▲ 5 r/Tubed

No Dalston Kingsland today!

I think I speak for everyone when I say I am glad there is no Dalston Kingsland involvement today.

I made some changes to the algorithm and puzzle selection code to improve the distribution.

I have some more changes planned over the next few days.

Will write an update post when finished.

As usual, thanks for any feedback!

Doug

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 2 months ago
▲ 1 r/Tubed

Tubed update: wait times, new hint and an Overground rebuild

Hello everyone, got some updates to share with you that I have made to Tubed.

Wait times now baked (pardon the pun) into routing

The optimal route now factors in the average wait at each line change. Wait values come from TfL off-peak frequencies (Mon-Fri 10:00-15:00 timetable), and is calculated as half the time between trains.

Smarter Hint 2

Hint 2 now reveals the first letter of your first interchange station.

Overground rebuilt

The Overground is now properly split into Lioness, Mildmay, Windrush, Suffragette, Weaver, and Liberty.

Streak milestones in your share card

Every 5 puzzles your current streak should now show in the share snippet. A small thing, but just a bit of fun.

Thanks to anyone that still plays! Been great fun building this so far.

As always, let me know if you have any feedback you would like to share.

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 4 months ago
▲ 1 r/Tubed

Who has the longest streak?

Just building some new features to the game and it got me wondering what the biggest streak might be?

My streaks have been ruined by all the testing I have done. Does anyone want to share?

Would be cool to see!

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 4 months ago
▲ 3 r/Tubed

Quick Update and Hello

Hello,

​

Hope everyone is enjoying the game still!

​

I have been on holiday this week so have not had much time to work on Tubed. However, I am testing the addition of waiting times so watch this space.

​

Additionally, I have amended some of the logic relating to the generation of the Hard puzzles so that they are not crazy! Hopefully that has been noticeable.

​

I will let you know when I update the game further.

​

In the meantime, please continue to let me know if you have any feedback!

​

Thanks

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 4 months ago
▲ 1 r/Tubed

Wait times - worth adding?

Hello,

I am reviewing Hard Mode as I am getting a lot of feedback about the optimal routes not really being realistic as they are popping out at 3-4 changes sometimes.

I think the reason they don't feel realistic is because there is no wait times in the game.

As you complete changes, you inevitably have to wait for the next train therefore there is a sort of penalty from making many changes that currently the game does not model. I originally didn't do this for ease (I also didn't expect so many people to play it!).

However, I think I have found a way to find consistent average trains per hour and therefore the average wait per line.

Do you think this would be a good addition?

Let me know!

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 4 months ago
▲ 58 r/TransportForLondon+1 crossposts

Two daily Tubed puzzles now — Easy and Hard 🟢🔥

Play here: playtubed.co.uk

A few of you mentioned the daily puzzles were getting too easy once you'd played for a while, so as of today there's a second puzzle for each day in beta.

Hard mode tries to make sure:

  • The optimal route always needs at least 2 line changes
  • You don't get the same puzzle twice in a row

Both Easy and Hard have separate streaks. You can play one or both each day.

It's still being tuned — if you hit a puzzle where the optimal feels wrong (impossible TfL route, awkward walking transfer, etc.), please share feedback via the in-game button. Real player reports are the only way I can spot bad pairs.

Trying to do this in my spare time to keep the game fun and interesting so I hope you enjoy!

playtubed.co.uk

u/out_here_vibing — 5 months ago
▲ 25 r/TransportForLondon

Update: Tubed is back with proper interchange times, smarter scoring, and out-of-station interchanges

Last week I posted about Tubed — the daily Tube puzzle where you build the fastest route between two stations and get scored against the optimal. A lot of you played it and gave some great feedback!

I've since gone back and rebuilt big chunks of it. Headline changes:

Interchange times are much improved: Every line-change at every station now uses real walking times.

Bank ↔ Monument is a proper cross-walk: You can change between them as part of your route and it's costed accurately per line pair, the way it actually works in real life.

Out-of-station interchanges added: You can now walk between nearby station pairs as part of your route, all timed accurately. Most pertinent ones added.

Massive network data audit: A bunch of branches were wrong.

Results screen shows the maths: Your route and the optimal route are both displayed leg-by-leg with explicit interchange times. No more "why is my score what it is" - you can see exactly where the time went.

Still a single HTML file, still no backend, still free. New puzzle every day at midnight, same one for everyone.

Still probably loads of bugs to squash let me know what you think!

Give it a go here:

playtubed.co.uk

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 5 months ago
▲ 20 r/LondonUnderground

Update: Tubed is back with proper interchange times, smarter scoring, and out-of-station interchanges

Last week I posted about Tubed — the daily Tube puzzle where you build the fastest route between two stations and get scored against the optimal. A lot of you played it and gave some great feedback!

I've since gone back and rebuilt big chunks of it. Headline changes:

Interchange times are much improved: Every line-change at every station now uses real walking times.

Bank ↔ Monument is a proper cross-walk: You can change between them as part of your route and it's costed accurately per line pair, the way it actually works in real life.

Out-of-station interchanges added: You can now walk between nearby station pairs as part of your route, all timed accurately. Most pertinent ones added.

Massive network data audit: A bunch of branches were wrong.

Results screen shows the maths: Your route and the optimal route are both displayed leg-by-leg with explicit interchange times. No more "why is my score what it is" - you can see exactly where the time went.

Still a single HTML file, still no backend, still free. New puzzle every day at midnight, same one for everyone.

Probably plenty of bugs to squash still so let me know what you think!

Give it a go here:

playtubed.co.uk

reddit.com
u/out_here_vibing — 5 months ago
▲ 6 r/TransportForLondon+1 crossposts

Ever had that conversation when you meet someone in London on how they got to that place from their home? i.e. you must have taken the central line and then changed at Bank? Then they come back with something different?

Well I've been working on a little passion project based on this and figured here was a good place to share it.

It's called Tubed — every day you're given two Underground stations and have to build the fastest possible route between them. You pick your lines, make your changes, and your journey time gets scored against the optimal route.

A few things that make it interesting:

- You have to change lines at least once (there should never be a puzzle on the same line).

- Times are travel time only — no waiting factored in.

- Everyone in the world gets the same puzzle each day

- There are three hints if you get stuck

It's a single HTML file with no backend — all the network data and puzzle logic runs in your browser. Built it because I spend too much time on the Tube thinking about whether I'm actually taking the fastest route.

Would love to know what you think, especially if you spot any dodgy journey times — the data comes from TfL timetables but I'm sure there are edge cases.

👉 playtubed.co.uk

u/out_here_vibing — 6 months ago